Metronic SAT 100 HD Freesat Receiver - Metronic SAT 100 HD

Summary

Our Score

8/10

Review Price free/subscription

Day-to-day operation is simple thanks to the clean, uncluttered onscreen layout. The main menu lists the options down the left - each with an instantly recognisable icon - and the relevant submenus pop up on the right. The cursor skips through the options without hesitation.

The remote features stodgy buttons arranged in a fairly intuitive layout. The EPG and Info buttons could have been emphasised a bit more and it's not particularly classy, but it's generally agreeable and we like the trio of setup buttons at the top.

Using these, you can change the HDMI output format and aspect ratio using onscreen mini-menus, while the third button provides direct access to a picture adjustment menu (see page 4) allowing you to optimise the image and turn on digital noise reduction. There's also an unusual option that lets you choose whether the picture freezes or goes black when changing channels.

Sadly the sharply-presented eight-day EPG doesn't let you watch live TV as you browse, but it's excellent in all other respects. The landscape grid layout works as well as ever, showing seven channels at a time, and we like the way the programme synopsis is always on display. You can navigate around it using the arrow keys and jump forward or back 24 hours using the coloured keys. You can even view channels by genre if you wish.

We're also big fans of the programme information display, which pops up when you press the Info button on the remote. The colourful icons along the bottom indicate whether the current broadcast is SD or HD and tell you the video/audio formats and aspect ratio. You can also browse through the channel schedule for the rest of the day, but you can't look at other channels. The use of white text on black backgrounds for the programme synopsis makes it clear and easy to read.

Like any good digital TV receiver, the channel list can be arranged into favourites or grouped into Movie, Music Sport, Shopping and so on. Among the other features on board are Audio Description, subtitles (which can be turned on but not off using the button on the remote), Dolby Digital support and a timer mode that can be used to trigger external recorders hooked up via SCART.